Isaiah 5:1-7 [show]Isaiah 5:1-7 The Vineyard of the LORD Destroyed [5:1]Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. [2]He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. [3]And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. [4]What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? [5]And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured;(1) I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. [6]I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. [7]For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed;(2) for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!(3) Footnotes 1. [5:5] Or 'grazed over'; compare Exodus 22:5 2. [5:7] The Hebrew words for 'justice' and 'bloodshed' sound alike 3. [5:7] The Hebrew words for 'righteous' and 'outcry' sound alike

Perhaps no word is more associated with God than the word “goodness.” You may have never realized how often the word goodness is used as a substitute for the word God. Surely you don’t think that the first person who exclaimed, “My goodness!” was actually thinking of goodness, do you? No. Some old boy was about to be irreverent about the burned biscuits, and he said, “My . .” and his mouth was ready to pronounce the “g” when he looked up and saw his mother-in-law. At the last second he said “goodness.” “My goodness, those are the worst biscuits I ever ate!” You will think of other words beginning with “g” that are used this way. If it turns out that profanity with substitute words still counts as profanity, we’re all in trouble! Aren’t we? “For goodness’ sake!”

Seriously, God and goodness do belong together. We prayed as children, “God is great, God is good.” And who could confront God’s greatness without trusting in God’s goodness? The prayer book of the Church of England refers to God as “the fountain of all goodness.” And we must never forget that God the Creator pronounced all things in creation “good.”

The problem, of course, is that the word “good” is as easily distorted and corrupted as the word “love.” What is good? The unrelenting mass media never stop introducing me to good things. Also, they are presumptuous enough to assume that they and I already agree on what is good. And they make their appeals to me, but in ways that serve their own interests infinitely more than mine. In the process, they are actually shaping our values and those of our children. They are telling us what is good. Tolstoy had one of his characters say: “It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.”

Despite all that, all of us ultimately decide for ourselves what is good. We teach our children what is good. Then they grow up and decide for themselves if we were right! But we wouldn’t have it any other way. No matter how sweet it is to see the young following in our footsteps, we don’t want them to be robots, or even clones. If we genuinely love them, we willingly run the risks involved in letting them determine their own values. Proper parenting is a process of giving our children back to God, which necessitates giving them their freedom.

What, then, is the goodness of God? God’s goodness is not in God’s coddling, or God’s over-indulgence, or God’s need to be loved. God’s goodness is not in answering all our prayers and giving us what we want. Paul wrote to Philippi about those whose god is the belly. (3:19) If that is the God we want, we can say goodbye to the God of the prophets and of Jesus Christ. A great part of the goodness of God is in the dream God has for each of us, and in the freedom God gives us to say Yes or No to that dream.

Isaiah was the greatest of the 8^th century prophets. These were the first genuinely ethical prophets, meaning that they saw clearly the social and economic implications of obedience to God. Isaiah lived in Jerusalem, in the southern kingdom of Judah. We saw in the first chapter “the great arraignment” where the people of Judah are seen as on trial for their disobedience.

In today’s verses from Isaiah 5 [show]Isaiah 5 The Vineyard of the LORD Destroyed [5:1]Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. [2]He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. [3]And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. [4]What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? [5]And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured;(1) I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. [6]I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. [7]For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed;(2) for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!(3) Woe to the Wicked [8]Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land. [9]The LORD of hosts has sworn in my hearing: "Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant. [10]For ten acres(4) of vineyard shall yield but one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah."(5) [11]Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them! [12]They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD, or see the work of his hands. [13]Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge;(6) their honored men go hungry,(7) and their multitude is parched with thirst. [14]Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure, and the nobility of Jerusalem(8) and her multitude will go down, her revelers and he who exults in her. [15]Man is humbled, and each one is brought low, and the eyes of the haughty(9) are brought low. [16]But the LORD of hosts is exalted(10) in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness. [17]Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture, and nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich. [18]Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes, [19]who say: "Let him be quick, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come, that we may know it!" [20]Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! [21]Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight! [22]Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, [23]who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right! [24]Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. [25]Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them, and the mountains quaked; and their corpses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still. [26]He will raise a signal for nations far away, and whistle for them from the ends of the earth; and behold, quickly, speedily they come! [27]None is weary, none stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps, not a waistband is loose, not a sandal strap broken; [28]their arrows are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like the whirlwind. [29]Their roaring is like a lion, like young lions they roar; they growl and seize their prey; they carry it off, and none can rescue. [30]They will growl over it on that day, like the growling of the sea. And if one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress; and the light is darkened by its clouds. Footnotes 1. [5:5] Or 'grazed over'; compare Exodus 22:5 2. [5:7] The Hebrew words for 'justice' and 'bloodshed' sound alike 3. [5:7] The Hebrew words for 'righteous' and 'outcry' sound alike 4. [5:10] Hebrew 'ten yoke', the area ten yoke of oxen can plow in a day 5. [5:10] A 'bath' was about 6 gallons or 22 liters; a 'homer' was about 6 bushels or 220 liters; an 'ephah' was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters 6. [5:13] Or 'without their knowledge' 7. [5:13] Or 'die of hunger' 8. [5:14] Hebrew 'her nobility' 9. [5:15] Hebrew 'high' 10. [5:16] Hebrew 'high'
, the prophet compares the people to a garden that he himself has created – - choosing good soil, cultivating carefully, selecting good seed, protecting the garden during the growing season, and so on. But all the planning and labor were useless, and the garden failed.

The garden represents Israel. God had honored their freedom to choose, and their tragic choices were a rejection of God’s purpose and care. God had expected from this vineyard a harvest of justice and righteousness. Instead, there is bloodshed and distress. How dreadful when God’s presence is withdrawn and God’s people are left to their own fate!

Where is the goodness of God in such a situation? Perhaps the prophet’s answer would be that God’s goodness is in God’s fashioning of a consequential world, a world of freedom and of consequences. Is it not the goodness of God that provides a dependable world where we reap what we sow? Surely it is. There is a downside, of course. We ourselves have sown the wind and reaped the whirlwind, haven’t we? But when we have toiled faithfully and planted wisely and cared lovingly, what glad harvests we have known!

Before time began, God knew the many risks in bestowing the gift of freedom. But, how else could God’s will be fulfilled? How else could God create a Christ-making world?

We have taken one side of the Incarnation more seriously that the other side. We have fully embraced the truth that Jesus Christ is the revelation of God. Jesus is God in human terms. We have not as fully embraced the truth that Jesus Christ is the revelation of humankind. Christ is what we are meant to be. He is what God had in mind when giving us life, and God is patient.

Several months ago I received an e-mail from a father. His young adult son was living in another city for the first time, and some of the changes the father observed concerned him a little. A lot of us have been there. As I responded, promising to pray for the man’s son, I kept thinking of the words of another father, words I had copied once but had misplaced. We preachers save hundreds of tib-bits we never find any use for, but lose the one anecdote or illustration a particular sermon or article must have! Much later, of course, I found it, in time for today.

Alan Paton wrote Cry, the Beloved Country and Death Be Not Proud. These words were written on the occasion of his son’s confirmation. See if they are not appropriate to our thoughts on the goodness of God:

“I see my son is wearing long trousers, I tremble at this; / I see he goes forward confidently, he does not know so fully his own gentleness. / Go forward, eager and reverent child, see here I begin to take my hands away from you, / I shall see you walk careless on the edges of the precipice, but if you wish you shall hear no word come out of me; / My whole soul will be sick with apprehension, but I shall not disobey you. / Life sees you coming, she sees you come with assurance towards her, / She lies in wait for you, she cannot but hurt you; / Go forward, go forward, I hold the bandages and ointments ready, / And if you would go elsewhere and lie alone with your wounds, why I shall not intrude upon you, / If you would seek the help of some other person, I shall not come forcing myself upon you. / If you should fall into sin, innocent one, that is the way of this pilgrimage; / Struggle against it, not for one fraction of a moment concede its dominion. / It will occasion you grief and sorrow, it will torment you, / But hate not God, nor turn from Him in shame or self-reproach; / He has seen many such, His compassion is as great as His Creation. / Be tempted and fall and return, return and be tempted and fall / A thousand times and a thousand, even to a thousand thousand. / For out of this tribulation there comes a peace, deep in the soul, and surer than any dream.”

Prayer:  As watered gardens in a desert world, O God, may we grow to your glory. Amen.

C. David Matthews  /  Royal Lane Baptist Church  /  Dallas, Texas 75230  /  8.15.10